It's hard to criticize anything after a Big Win, but I believe this criticism is warranted. With about 3 minutes left in the game I started to wonder when Archie would empty the Bench and get his Rotation Players off the Floor. There is no need to take the risk of an injury when you have a game to play tomorrow.
Nebraska emptied their bench with over 2 minutes left. That should have been the signal for Archie to do the same. Yet he kept his Players in until a minute was left. In my opinion, the risk of injury was magnified by the fact that Nebraska had the two football players on the Court. Not because they would intentionally injure an opponent, but because no matter how good the Football Conditioning Program is, these guys can't be in Basketball playing shape on such short notice. In addition, they have never played Basketball at this level with this many players of this skill level on the floor at one time. This isn't Rec Center Pickup Games where a guy who played High School Basketball can dominate.
All it takes is for one of their Players to get out of position on a Defensive switch and have our Player bang knees with him, and we lose an important rotation Player for one game or the rest of the year.
I don't have a problem with Nebraska playing these guys. I think it was great that their Coaching Staff gave them the opportunity to appear in the Tournament. However, I think Archie should have reacted more quickly and cleared his Bench at the same time.
Nebraska emptied their bench with over 2 minutes left. That should have been the signal for Archie to do the same. Yet he kept his Players in until a minute was left. In my opinion, the risk of injury was magnified by the fact that Nebraska had the two football players on the Court. Not because they would intentionally injure an opponent, but because no matter how good the Football Conditioning Program is, these guys can't be in Basketball playing shape on such short notice. In addition, they have never played Basketball at this level with this many players of this skill level on the floor at one time. This isn't Rec Center Pickup Games where a guy who played High School Basketball can dominate.
All it takes is for one of their Players to get out of position on a Defensive switch and have our Player bang knees with him, and we lose an important rotation Player for one game or the rest of the year.
I don't have a problem with Nebraska playing these guys. I think it was great that their Coaching Staff gave them the opportunity to appear in the Tournament. However, I think Archie should have reacted more quickly and cleared his Bench at the same time.
